Suspects to pay bail before traveling

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta

Aside from a letter from a doctor and a permit from the Attorney General's Office, a corruption suspect or defendant wanting to get medical treatment abroad will have to pay a bond, a newly endorsed bill says.

According to articles in the bill that revises Law No. 5/1999 on the public prosecution service, the bond should equal the amount the corruption suspect or defendant is accused of stealing.

The House of Representatives endorsed the bill during a plenary meeting attended by 202 of 500 House members on Thursday.

Under the current version of Law No. 5/1991, a suspect or defendant need only produce a recommendation letter from a doctor and a permit from the Attorney General's Office to go overseas for medical treatment.

Of the 202 legislators attending the plenary meeting, 194 lawmakers voted for the bill's endorsement, while eight others voted against it.

The eight are members of the Indonesian Nationhood Unity (KKI) faction.

Hamid Mappa, KKI faction spokesman, questioned the decision to raise the retirement age of prosecutors from 58 to 62. However, another KKI faction member Tjetje Hidayat Padmadinata said that the rejection of the revision by his faction was due only to a "misunderstanding".

Tjetje said that his faction had agreed to the revision of the Public Prosecution Service Law in earlier discussions with the House's special committee.

House deputy speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno who presided over the plenary meeting stressed that differences of opinion among House factions reflected democracy.

In his acceptance speech, Attorney General M.A. Rachman meanwhile said that the decision to raise the retirement age of prosecutors from 58 to 62 was aimed at creating professional prosecutors. He did not elaborate.

Rachman said the revision of the law would compel prosecutors to uphold law enforcement, public service, and corruption eradication.

Earlier in the day, the House also endorsed the bill on the establishment of the Judicial Commission, a new state institution designed to improve the performance of the judiciary.

The Judicial Commission will have authority to select the justices in the Supreme Court and to supervise the performance of the justices.

The new commission will have seven members consisting of former justices, legal practitioners, legal experts and members of the community.

The commission will have the power to subpoena law officers and judges to explain their actions as part of its supervisory function.

The judicial commission can propose the dismissal of justices to the Supreme Court and to the Constitutional Court, which would later report the case to the president who will have the final say.

Key Articles ============================================================ Article 37 (3): Besides a doctor's recommendation, a defendant is required to pay a bond before leaving the country for medical treatment. The bond shall equal the state losses resulting from the crime.

Article 38: The president can set up a commission to supervise and to boost the performance of the public prosecution service. ==============================================================